Clawing My Way to the Middle“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ― Sun Tzu

Recte Agens Confido

In a few short hours I will leave the beautiful Michigan day behind and travel to California to go stand up for what is right. I can’t help but think about the OK Corral and the Earp brothers along with Doc Holiday going to off to stand up to the powerful Cowboy faction. The thing in independent film is that often if you are not in LA you are at a greater risk for others to try and do wrong by you and your property. Some will fly directly in the face of truth because it is costly in time and resources to go fight for truth. Whereas many filmmakers fought for those final thousand dollars in post costs or have a film that only costs a few thousand dollars, fighting for right can be a hard thing.

The truth is that starting with my 1st trip to LA to read for Wes Craven on SCREAM 2 I’ve been making contacts and networking with great folks. They are always impressed by the guy from Michigan who comes not with just talk but with proven action. I’m proud to represent a tribe of artists and I’ve always worked hard to leave people with a good impression. We are not greedy. We are not arrogant. We are simply people who hope we can make a living with our art and enjoy some of the reward in this lifetime versus the artists of days gone by who saw their biggest boost in sales after their death. I’m not great at asking for help but I’m getting better. I thank the friends who have helped in this matter.

BIG THANKS

Jeff Kennedy, my director/biz partner at CDI gave me a beautiful coat of arms for PERRY that now hangs in my basement bar. The bar is part trapper saloon and part pirate cove. The coat of arms reads, Recte Agens Confido or roughly, he who stands with right, stands confidently. This biz situation in California is to stand up for what is right. This is not a “he said and she said” but almost four inches of evidence that supports our claim. Because we are from places other than Hollywood some individuals believed that they could just ignore agreements. To our credit we did EVERYTHING to avoid this situation. Because I would not recommend legal action for anyone. It is very long, tedious and takes away from time that could be spent moving forward. That said, it is a duty that I’ve accepted, so we go to confront the situation. I’m a very peaceful person who lives by harmonious attributes day in and day out. That said, I’m a warrior as well. Literally I’ve had years of training in the fighting arts and I don’t wear that on my sleeve but I train to this day. Life can be a series of battles and I do believe that from adversity comes new opportunity. We have been wronged for many years as a company on some level. We’ve fought several battles and won our share. We’ve lost some because the cost to recover would be too costly in time and resources. But this is a landmark battle. This is going to show Hollywood how the tribe of CDI will be seen. Already one dishonest person in Hollywood associated with the “Wild Michigan” situation KNOWS what can happen. And his troubles are only beginning and there is a short list of other dishonest folks that should be worried.

By now many have heard of my upcoming role in the movie “In Our Time” this Summer. It reminds me of JUDGEMENT and how it is handed out. “The humbled will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled.” OR in the TOMBSTONE style of judgement the justice came fast and harsh. I’m not sure of how justice will be recognized in our case be it soft or harsh. I just hope that justice is served up. The most important fact is that CDI is standing up for EVERY small filmmaker that was ever wronged and didn’t have what it takes to get their justice. It has been costly to get to this point. More costly than what we spent on our first movie. If justice does come about perhaps these costs will be recouped. Perhaps we will get what we are due. Perhaps judgement will fall upon a dishonest man to entice him to do good business in the future.

So if you are one of those “small people” who have been taken advantage by some dishonest person/corporation I ask you to send your thoughts our way. We are small but together we are great. So today the Earps are coming to Hollywood. With our attorney “Doc Holiday” we are going to go present our case this week and see what happens when the smoke clears.

We’ve had great movement on many fronts with development projects and this studio project of mine isn’t going to hurt any of them. We have a summer of releases coming out and I look forward to days ahead with friends on set. We have new facebook sites for “Figure in the Forest,” “Heaven’s Neighbors,” “The Patchwork Girl of Oz,” “Sherwood Horror,” “Holly, Jingles and Clyde” and “In Our Time”…seek them out and throw them your support. “Renovation” is closing in on a rough cut and deals are starting to move around it. “Locked in a Room” is just returning from Cannes Film Market on Monday so we will see what is happening there. I’ll be back to more film updates soon. Many new updates on www.cdiproductions.com Right now I have to go saddle up because we hit the trail today. We’re gonna ride hard and go confront the cowboy faction on their wrong doings. All this is possible because one powerful attorney I met a few years ago said, “I’ll be your huckleberry.”